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Many of the posters on this board think of their Social Security check as an after thought. Many of you have huge 401k balances, pensions and annuities. You have the assets to wait until you are 70 to collect Social Security but retire at fifty and use your vast savings and pensions to pay the bills.
Though, I hope you understand that people like this are a minority in America. MOST Americans can't afford to retire until they get a Social Security check. And Social Security covers more than 50% of their retirement expenses.
That is me. My Social Security check covers about half of my retirement expenses.
My so called career was a nightmare. I was fired often, laid off often and usually ended up in the worst companies. My various bosses yelled at me, told me I was no good and liked to play games with my self confidence. I suffered through long periods of unemployment and tough financial times. I jumped from job to job, career field to career field. I was miserable.
When the first Social Security check came in I had a huge emotional reaction. FREEDOM!
(I still work part time (in a semi retirement role), but it is an easy job with none of the pressures of management or a professional role. I actually like it. But I don't need it and it is only part time. For the first time in my life I am in freedom!)
You sound a lot happier now than a lot of "rich" people on this board. That's what it's all about, isn't it???
OP, did you do something special for yourself when you got your first SS deposit? Celebrate? Treat yourself in some way?
My wife and I went on a trip around the world and came back feeling so lucky to have guaranteed income for life. (After seeing the incredible poverty in places like India and Egypt.)
Shortly after returning a relative died and left me lots of money so I don't need the SS anymore, so I am investing it. I got a part time job to get me out of the house helping welfare to work students learn job skills.
Last edited by Curious Investor; 01-09-2017 at 03:54 PM..
My step-father (RIP) and my mom depended on their SS checks as well. So do my other older relatives.
I noticed too that most posters here on C-D claim to make over $100k annually even the ones on a whim who up and move to a new state or city without a job. They move into a new $350k+ home in an upscale, crime free walkable neighborhood, with shopping, five-star restaurants, art galleries, and the top performing public schools. According to their post, within a short time in their new location they find a new job (advertised on Craiglist or Indeed or through a temp agency?) which starts them at $65K plus $20k bonus. Two years later, they're promoted to a position that pays $100k and to top it off allowed them to work from home whenver they want. So there you have it.
On the Financial-economics threads, along with their huge 401k plans and numerous ROTH IRAs top-offed at max contributions most of the posters claimed to have all gone to top tier universities which cost $50k per year yet they graduated debt free due to daddy's money or a part-time job sacking groceries. They are now all working in jobs whose minimum salary is $100k but that is primarily for the low-achievers. These high-achieving posters are clearing $150K+ annually after taxes. Another poster claims that his salary tripled within a year or two of being on the job and now his wife is a stay-at-home mom raising children yet he's paid off not only his own college debt but his wife's too - all within a span of TWO years. It's all just so surreal!
Yet, most of the people I know are like you, OP. SS check is crucial to maintaining their cost of living. There is nothing wrong with that. You've paid into over the decades that you worked. Let the high-rollers kick rocks! If their SS checks are so unneeded why don't they donate them to the poor (someone who wasn't able to land one of these $100k+ salary jobs that seem so ubiquitous and easy to get), if the many C-D posters are to be believed.
Congratulations, OP. The one I'm waiting for is Medicare. I'm paying about $ 1,100 per month for my health insurance. Of course, being a non-drinking male, I am forced to carry maternity care, breastfeeding lessons and alcohol treatment coverage (thanks Obama) and I cannot WAIT to say goodbye to Blue Cross. One year later I'll start getting $ 2,594/month in SS. I have decided that these are the only two things that don't suck about getting old.
My wife and I went on a trip around the world and came back feeling so lucky to have guaranteed income for life. (After seeing the incredible poverty in places like India and Egypt.)
And just think, there was once a time in US history when social security didn't even exist!
I have a sister in law and her husband in their early 70's. Both are retired and SS is their only income. Combined they are doing OK. Tight, but OK. When one dies, the other is financially screwed.
They made a stupid (not even bad, just plain stupid) financial decision when in their early 50's and lost everything. They had to start new and not with good paying jobs so they were never able to get ahead.
Got my second SS check in late December and still pinch myself that it is there. We decided to take ours early since other funds are there (pension, savings). Too many friends and relatives lately who became ill or passed away well before FRA.
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I'm paying about $ 1,100 per month for my health insurance. Of course, being a non-drinking male, I am forced to carry maternity care, breastfeeding lessons and alcohol treatment coverage (thanks Obama) and I cannot WAIT to say goodbye to Blue Cross. One year later I'll start getting $ 2,594/month in SS. I have decided that these are the only two things that don't suck about getting old.
